A Room with a View

Holy moly. I have working internets and cable. It's like a Christmas miracle over here in North Haven! Guess that means the internet gods will let me post some more Arizona photos!

Above is one of my favorite photos from this trip. I shot this as we hiked through Walnut Canyon on the Island Trail to check out some ancient cave dwellings.  It's hard to fathom what it would have been like to live here 700 years ago. Today it's a beautiful hiking trail featuring 25 different cave homes.  

One wall of cave dwellings faces another and if I closed my eyes long enough I could imagine the echoes that bounced off these cliffs back when life thrived here. Families grew corn, squash and beans together, called The Three Sisters. You plant corn first, then plant beans around it to grow up the stalks, finally you plant squash around the whole deal to protect your crops from animals, etc. This practice is still used today by farmers.

There is no corn growing here now. But the cacti are a plenty. This one just so happens to have an eye, a nose and a smile. Check the side profile, people.

 

In case you forget you're at super high elevation, here is a rock to remind you not to move too quickly. This is where I realized that Native Americans probably had pretty awesome lungs to survive here. 

The view from one cave dwelling to another...

That's a Tiff on the left hand side as seen from inside a dwelling.

The cave rooms are quite roomy. I could set up my bed, some chairs, a dresser here and live comfortably.

I have no idea what this plant is called but it was everywhere. I really enjoyed the curly spindles that grew off of them. Not sure why, but this photo (below) makes me really happy. 

The view from the top of the park.

Rule of thirds. Grrrr.

My home's front door. Come in.

Doing what we do best, posing for photos in pretty places.

In-camera vignetting is the devil's work.

Tiff risked her life for this photo. Who knows what type of horrible human flesh-loving snakes live  up in there?

I said something funny, I hope. Or maybe the altitude made her lose her mind. ;)

Dead wood with some pretty patterns happening. 

I never know what to say at the end of any entry. I think this is all there is for my Arizona photos. I am going to have to find another project to focus my attention on. Suggestions? There will probably be some shoreline hurricane photos coming up soon.  But what else?  Places? People?